Sauber Team Principal Fred Vasseur has admitted talks will take place with Charles Leclerc over a seat in 2018 but believes it is still “too early” as the Monegasque looks to wrap up the F2 title.
The 19-year-old has regularly been linked to a drive with the Swiss team next season following the re-signing of an engine deal with Ferrari after an initial contract with Honda has been cancelled.
Later, it was reported the Scuderia had aspirations of seeing Sauber become a de facto junior team but Vasseur claims nothing has no talks have yet taken place to move in that direction.
“The deal is based on the powertrain, which means it’s the engine and the gearbox and then we will discuss together the fact that we could extend the deal on another parameter for some other parts,” the Frenchman said of the Ferrari partnership.
“On the driver point of view, regarding Charles, I think he has to be focused on the Formula 2 Championship. [There are] still a couple of races to go and it’s a bit too early to discuss this.
“I hope we will have the discussion at some stage but I think, to be honest, even for Charles it’s a bit too early to put it on the table.”
Leclerc currently sits 59 points clear of his nearest challenger Oliver Rowland in the rebranded series with two rounds and four races left in Jerez next month and Abu Dhabi in November.
Though it would seem unlikely that is a lead last year’s GP3 champion will let slip, his manager Nicholas Todt, echoed Vasseur that finishing the job must be the first task at hand.
“It’s clear that Charles is an exceptional driver,” he said in an interview with French TV channel Canal+. “His first objective is to win the Formula 2 championship this year, an accomplishment which few have achieved in their first year in the series.”
But the son of current FIA President Jean Todt and manager to several current F1 drivers admits it would be a tragedy if he didn’t move up regardless of the final outcome.
“I can’t tell you if he’ll be there [in F1] but I’m rather confident. Given his results in F2 there’s no reason he shouldn’t be in F1 in 2018,” he added.
